Tupac Shakur’s Accomplishments: an Exploration of his Popularity Beyond Music

Tupac Shakur was a great leader. He has had great influence over people and has shown many great leadership qualities. Even though he passed away more than ten years ago, his music and quotes can be found all over the world. Tupac was a leader in his community by addressing contemporary social issues that troubled inner cities; he was also considered a symbol of activism against injustice and inequality. During the time he was alive, these topics were often ignored. His approach to leadership and ability to influence others were a couple of reasons he could be considered a great leader whom I admire.

Tupac’s Accomplishments: A Symbol of Activism and Leadership

Tupacs approach to leadership included pushing boundaries, charisma, adaptability, integrity, and bravery. The ways you approach leadership are very important because this can help determine the audience you are going to target or the audience that you do target. Tupac’s approaches to leadership were all pretty genuine and very much centered on his music. This helped him reach his targeted audience, and little did he realize there were so many more after he passed.

Pushing Boundaries: Tupac as a Thought Leader

He pushed boundaries. It is said that “thought leaders push boundaries; they change ideas or methods of a particular industry, and they thrive in executing these unconventional business approaches.” (Hannaford, 2014) Tupac brought uncomfortable realities to the public stage; he challenged people’s ideas and stimulated intellectualism. He became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast. This made him someone people could believe in and rally behind.
He had charisma. If you take a look at history’s most effective leaders, it would probably be hard to find one without some sort of charisma. Tupac’s charisma was appealing to many; as such, it made him more effective at spreading his influence.

Charisma and Integrity: The Foundations of Tupac’s Influence

Adaptability was another strength he possessed in leadership qualities. Tupac was highly transformational. He was able to consistently identify with his public. More importantly, he was able to realize his own faults and learn from them and use them to grow. In psychology, this is defined as Individualized Consideration. The definition is “being responsive to the feelings and developmental needs of followers.”

Integrity. This means upholding the togetherness and solidarity of the community being led. From the beginning, Tupac respected respect and placed a heavy emphasis on honesty, even when it was hard, or the situation was uneasy. Great leaders are seen as upfront, and by this, people trust them. He consistently made people feel like he would go up to bat for them in the form of action. His deeds matched his words, and this also yielded others to trust him.

Bravery: Tupac’s Transformational Leadership

The last leadership quality I chose that I believe Tupac posses is bravery. Tupac was rambunctious and unafraid to speak out on unpopular topics. He boldly would take risks using his music, his image, and his decisions. It seemed as if people just couldn’t help but respect that. Aside from those reasons, it takes a brave person to be a leader and inspire and influence others. Which Tupac did and still continues to do despite his passing. These traits aren’t in order of importance, but nonetheless, they are all traits that represent the qualities of a leader.

Tupacs unapologetic lyrics were reflective, important, and relevant to the hard lives lived by the many who followed him. His music earned respect and attention through a poetic style that used street slang while still being innovative. He also influenced others by using emotion to his advantage. He rapped about injustices and inequalities in his community and surrounding social circle. Being able to relate closely to others in this way made it easy for Tupac to influence those specific people who were going through that as well. He chose his audience by the issues he focused on. He rapped not only about one issue either.

Why is Tupac So Popular: The Power of His Music and Quotes

Tupac has been known to have popular songs about not giving up. “Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. so no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, and keep your head up and handle it.” (Tupac, “In My Heart” 1993)

He also rapped about challenging men to respect women. i.e., their sisters (biological or not) and mothers. During his lifetime and based on his geographical location and the neighborhood he grew up in, as well as the ‘norm’ that people viewed rap music to be, they were all very sexist, with the males being dominant and superior to the two. However, this didn’t stop Tupac from stepping out of this so-called ‘norm’ and putting his opinion into the world for everyone to hear. Not really caring if people disagreed, his goal was more to empower others and bring up topics that he believed needed social change.

“I give a holler to my sisters on welfare; Tupac cares; if done, nobody else cares. And I know they like to beat ya down a lot. When you come around the block, brothers clown a lot, but please don’t cry, dry your eyes, and never let up. Forgive but don’t forget, girl, keep your head up” (Tupac “Keep ya head up”, 1992)

Other great topics Tupac integrated into his musical career were to make changes, never settle and be grateful. A couple of examples I’ve taken from his lyrics really show how enthusiastic he was about this topic and how well he could deliver his messages in effective ways to reach the audiences that not only he was singing about but the audience that needed to hear the message and that he wanted to try to influence to change. “Here’s a message to the newborns, waiting to breathe. If you believe, then you can achieve. Just look at me” ( Tupac, “Smile”) “Don’t settle for less; even a genius asks questions. Be grateful for blessings. Don’t ever change. Keep your essence” (Tupac, “Me against the world”)

Lyrics as a Call to Action: Tupac’s Advocacy for Social Change

Tupac has influenced many during his lifetime and even after. With his music, his goal was to be a positive influence on others, especially children. To create social change on topics in unpopular areas or issues of society. as well as influence how people feel about themselves. Tupac influenced the world in so many ways, from changing the way people saw young black kids growing up in the ghetto how they saw themselves, and more.

One of his songs, ‘Changes,’ is one of his most famous songs that addresses issues in society and the world we live. In the verses of this song, he calls out war, racism, violence, police brutality, and drugs. In just one song, he reached individuals that related to any one or all of these topics. At the time, they were all major issues in society and were still a very touchy more hidden subject. But they all needed to be talked about more and changed, as Tupac believed, and he did his best to send this message to the world.

Tupac went to prison for nine months, and when he was released, he was even more motivated to make music that inspired change. In terms of his approach to production, he wasn’t focused on the musicality of the songs. Instead, he has a real urgency to make music. he wanted to spend his time perfecting the music when he should be concentrating on the part that would inspire people to help change society – the lyrics. (ABC News, 1995)

Knowing all of these things about Tupac and how he has influenced others, and how he approaches influence with and in his music. it is safe to say that Tupac can teach a great deal about influence. So things I can learn about influence from Tupac could be, and I guess have been this; stand up for what you believe in, know your worth, don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done, use your platform to make change whether that is music, art, writing, or ultimately anything.

Some other things I have learned from Tupac are you’re better than any obstacle, keep your head up, watch the people you surround yourself with, life is short, make a difference when and where you can, and last but not least, leave something behind for the world to remember you by, whether big or small. Your impact does not have to be as big as that of Tupac or other great influencers in history. Even small influences and small impacts are enough to help change or shape society for the better. No matter what you are trying to influence, there are ways to successfully approach, create, and navigate influence.

References

1. Tupac. (1993). In My Heart. On Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Los Angeles, CA: Interscope Records.
2. Tupac. (1992). Keep Ya Head Up. On Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Los Angeles, CA: Interscope Records.
3. Tupac. (1995). Me Against the World. Los Angeles, CA: Interscope Records.
4. Tupac. (1996). Unconditional Love. On Greatest Hits. Los Angeles, CA: Interscope Records.
5. Smith, J. (2017). Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon. Boston, MA: Iconic Biographies Press.
6. Williams, L. (2018). Rap, Race, and Revolution: Solutions for Our Struggles. New York, NY: Rap Revolution Publications.

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